Season's Opening Day Missing A Key Element_ducks

On the Outdoors

LAKE OKEECHOBEE — The highlight of the opening day of the Florida duck season for Dude Walker and me came at 5:30 a.m. That's when we discovered that no other hunters had found our secret spot.

Little did we know that the ducks wouldn't find it, either.

When we arrived at the boat ramp shortly after 5 Wednesday morning, three vehicles with empty boat trailers were there. As we launched Walker's airboat, he grumbled about how one of the three was probably in his spot.

We went to his No. 1 choice anyway and couldn't believe it when no one flashed a light at us - the duck hunter's way of saying, "This place is taken."Then a light flashed a few hundred yards to our left.

Walker's spot consisted of a wide slough bounded on the west by a grass island. He had located it while hunting in the area the year before. Ducks usually fly along the slough from north to south, close to the island. The island offered Walker a place to conceal his airboat. I would be hunting from a float tube about 75 yards from Walker. By the time the ducks saw us, they would be well within shooting range.

The decoys were in place and the horizon had just a hint of orange in it as Walker and I chatted. A Fort Lauderdale resident, Walker told of duck hunts in his native Texas when the limits were liberal and the weather often frigid. We were pleased that North America's fall duck population is at a 14-year high. So high, in fact, that Florida raised the daily bag limit from three ducks to four. We planned to get our limit early, before the day became uncomfortably hot.

At 6:15, I got into the float tube and slipped into the water, then Walker motored over to his impromptu blind. At 6:29, the first shots of the season boomed in the distance. At 6:31, three more shots sounded. Then silence.

The day dawned cloudless and duckless. A few muffled shots could be heard now and then. An occasional flock of teal or ringnecks flew high above remote regions of the lake.

At 8, the hunter who had flashed us 21/2 hours earlier picked up his decoys and left. A little while later I heard Walker crank up the airboat. As Walker approached, a lone duck zipped passed far out of range.

"I have not seen a duck today," said Walker, who had seen plenty on a scouting trip the day before.

"I just saw my first one," I replied.

"Well, should we leave the decoys here and come back," Walker said, "or pick 'em up and try someplace else?''

We decided to pick up and head in for a strategy session. Another hunter at the boat ramp had nothing to say or show for his efforts. We then met up with David Dannenhauer of Lauderhill, who had hunted a different part of the lake. He had seen a few ducks and heard even fewer shots. So much for the increased bag limit.

At 3:30, Dannenhauer and I went to an area we had hunted during the special early season in September. We saw some teal and wood ducks, but nothing close.

We reported our findings to Walker, who had sat out the afternoon hunt. I later conferred with Bert Haugen of Pompano Beach, who said that he, Gene Jones and O.B. Hyatt had gotten their limit - four ducks between the three of them. Haugen said they'd flushed some ducks en route to their hunting area and suggested we hunt there.

Thanksgiving morning found Dannenhauer and me in his airboat and Walker and his son-in-law, Jeff McNabb, in Walker's airboat. Haugen's information was solid: the area had some teal. But they whizzed by us so quickly that our shots were not a serious threat.

It still was a great day. Dannenhauer and I got to enjoy a beautiful sunrise. McNabb got to drive Walker's airboat. Walker got to tell everybody about how good McNabb drives. And we each had turkey dinners waiting for us when we got home.